RC sims flight model (flight physics) realism?

[bujablaster]

Hello,

i would like to ask you, who actually fly with both ANY RC sim and real RC plane - how is realism in those games? I mean flight model realism - does it feel real? From many videos i saw a lot of RC sims are "arcade" feel (simple or almost no flight modeling). Also i tried some RC sim last night on keyboard (lol, i know, terrible and wonky controls and digital instead of analog, meh, i know, but i just wanted to try if i am even capable to pilot some plane from third person view :)) and even i didn't fly any RC model before and even i tried it with keyboard i could fly some nice figures ... which was a bit odd to me, it felt really easy. ***

So, how is flight model realism in RC sims again? I.e. in RC7? Or in any other RC sim which do you prefer ... Or is RC7 good enough and truly "Our state of the art physics simulation gives you a stunning level of realism." as description at store page says?

I am interested in buying some RC control with USB connectivity and try to learnd fly inside some sim before i spend some money for my first schooling RC set (and before i send it to the ground for first time, i know ;)).

Thank you guys for your replies and have thousands flight hours with no crash! :)

*** edit: it was RC Desk pilot RC sim and it felt really too much easy with some planes like Cessna or some glider, even with weather/wind conditions turned on

[Harvester]

For a new pilot I think the most important thing a sim will teach you is orientation. By that I mean that when a plane is flying toward you you will instinctively move the sticks the correct way. This will also help you recover yourself when the plane is heading for the ground. If you think about what needs to be done for a split second your plane will crash.

As far as realism. I fly gliders almost all the time and it is a little easier than in real life but it's a good substitute for when you can't get out and fly.

I also think that the biggest mistake made is keeping the wind at or near 0. Crank up the wind because in real life you will be impatient and you will fly when it's to windy. :-)

[bujablaster]

Originally posted by Harvester:

For a new pilot I think the most important thing a sim will teach you is orientation. ...

Thanks! I thought so as you say - most RC sim benefit for me as total newbie to RC world is to learn to fly with plane from third person's view, to fly without thinking, same as i walk. I understand that.

Anyway i already ordered Simtransmitter 6ch from Pelikan Daniel, so i can't wait for delivery :).

To the weather and wind - agree. This, i think, will prepare me much more better for real RC flying on spring :).

Thank you again.

[Harvester]

Yes do not make the mistake of exclusively using the Follow Cam. It's nice but you'll rarely fly behind your plane like Superman in real life. :-)

Good Luck. and most important Have fun :-)

here are a couple of vids of older versions of Aerofly RC

Some Gliders

And another

[muelb]

Hi, I fly RC-Glider/Planes/Helicopter since about 20 Years. I learned it by the "Hardway": a colleague stood behind me and was ready to overtake the Sticks in emergency situation..:-) Now I often fly this simulator, as Harvester said: It's really good to learn the flight directions and to make the right decisions. At leas for RC- Helicopter flying you do not have time to think what you should do -> that result in a crash. And for that it's realy helpfull to learn it in a simulator. Also the handling of different modells is nice in the simulator, every one has it's one flight characteristics. So I would prefer today to learn, and also excersice whit an Flightsimulator, it's helping you to not be frustrated because so many crashes in reallife.

[bujablaster]

Guys really appreciate your input, thanks!

Actually i couldn't stand it and when i brought my new RC Simtransmitter to my home i just tried it in previsously played RC Desk Pilot and FMS, but after a while i bought RC7 and i am glad, both for visual side and feeling of flying (i don't know but RC7 feels much more accurate or somehow much more realistic than RC Desk Pilot or FMS which are both for free).

RC7 is beautiful! I flew a lot of "classic" sims in last 20 years (mostly modern era fighters and bombers or modern combat multirole planes) but this is totally different :). And i can't even say how fun and interesting is for me to observe and control plane "from outside". And it is beautiful. It is like being on some public flight-display day with one huge difference - i am in control of the plane :)

So basic flying and some really basic figures or tricks are not so hard, even in some wind, but landing ... Last evening i've spent 3 hours in RC7 doing airfield circles "take off - half circle - land" repeatedly. I am sure i will put most of my effort for my future real RC flying to proper landings over and over in no wind (which is sort of easy in RC7) and when i'll be superconfident i'll start slowly crank some wind and turbulences and do landings again, until i get superconfident again :).

P.S.: i always loved modern beauties and had no passion for slow, old World War machines ... but truth is i fell in love with Corsair F4U (EPP model, i hope everything will go well and i'll buy it on next spring) and now i start feeling something for those "old, clunky" machines. Geez, F4U is so beautiful machine! :)

Originally posted by Harvester:

Yes do not make the mistake of exclusively using the Follow Cam. It's nice but you'll rarely fly behind your plane like Superman in real life. :-)

Of course, agree! :) I have no problem to fly any sim with normal cocpit view, but handling plane from third persons view is hardest part for me. So i fly in RC7 ONLY from pilot's view, exactly as in real RC life.

Thanks again guys and happy flying with no crashes :).

[bujablaster]

Well, if someone intersted, my opinion on RC7 flight physics is below.

I newer flew real plane, but after over 30hrs of flying in RC7, after visiting lot of air shows in last 25 years and after playing a lot of flight sims (arcade sims, but hardcore sims too) and with overall (yet passive) interest of aviatics and planes i dare to write this.

I found one really interesting thing when it comes to realism of RC7. I don't know how accurate are helis in RC7, but planes are inaccurate. It feels much more like game then sim. Why so? From what i found game in its core is set to use almost none of stall simulation. Almost every plane in RC7 feels glued to the sky even in really tight low-speed turns. And every plane weights an half of weight of real model.

Devs said it is pure intentional so sim is easy, but then is such sim for nothing when you can't make plane stall - it is half of fun a half of effort to fly and most dangerously it is half of truth. I am glad i found this because i would be really shocked on my first real flight.

Fortunately, planes in RC7 can be tuned and when done properly one suddenly gets much more realistic feel from flying. Finally my F4U drops height fast in tight turns and every take off and landing feels much more real (with such plane one can even simulate stall spins and learn how to recover from them).

Only what i can't undestand - why everyone needs to bother edit gibberish parameters (for most of them no guide exists, only few of them are mentioned in RC7 manual) for each plane one wants to fly? One simple option for realism or game could be enough, for whole game.

On the other side, RC7 simulates even things like propeller wash or torque of propeller/engine, it can even simulate propeller stall (if i am right). But maybe only one or two planes (one of them is Katana modification) in whole RC7 use such things :/. And as wrote before, those real things can't be simply turned on or off for whole sim. One needs to crawl through parameters named after some physics variables or from some equations.

[b-oNic [Q-Net]]

Well, i use RC7 to learn handle my brandnew Radio and i'm really happy with this simulator. If i haven't it i had blew up at least a 10 times a helicopter before the radio was set up.


it would be fine if there would be a fpv window mode beside the main view for better viewing or just to test fvp view.


it's a nice pre tuning and learning soft. In reality i think it's not that hard to keep the focus on the model and you can wear a nice cap or hat to be not flash-banged by the sun.

maybe gonna try next another part, or the ultimate version

[bujablaster]

Originally posted by keiphon:

...

To the FPV - one needs so called "4D" scenery which is basically 3d terain map so you can fly with your plane like with some "real" flight sim (see from cocpit, follow mode etc.). But no FPV window.

I agree with rest. One hard part about RC flying is to be always aware how is your plane oriented and create some habit to not think about reaction like "so i fly toward to me, belly up and start to fall down left so i need push stick to front and left to level up plane" etc., so jsut do things automatically :)

Second, to me maybe much more important and also hard part is plane handling. Learn to know your speed visually and overall be able visually fly your plane, know its limits. Shortly say to learn world of aerodynamics and airflow.

RC7 teaches you pretty well when it comes to handling plane otherwise than from cockpit (but honestly free RC sims like RCdeskpilot or FMS can do exactly same).
Second part - plane acting in the air - it will not teach you as planes flight model is not too much realistic, in actual setting. Unless you tune your plane and add airfoils as parameters and tune stall angles to some smaller value etc., because in actual settings all planes feel more arcade than sim.
Which i find unfortunate, i can't get it - why Aerofly's FS has realism setting via only one slider for whole game? But in RC7 if you want change anything related to flying you need to do it per plane by editing some unexplained parameters and numbers (there is really not much mentioned in RC7 user manual).

It could be dangerous as flying in such way gives you wrong feeling that flying plane is actually easy and almost everyone can do it. Which is not true and in such case i can imagine someone like me, who train himself with RC7 and who's plan is to buy his first RC plane for next spring. Someone who feels like king in RC7, but on first real RC flight, even with no wind he will find only bittery surprise.

Beauty of RC7 lays somewhere else than in flight realism to me. RC7 has beautiful and really detailed RC models and ability to scale models. But that's all. Untill you start mess with plane's parameters it will just give you false feeling of flying with plane is so easy. Even in windy conditions in RC7.

[Lucky (Ag+NaCl → Delicious)]

Some of the comment stated that it wasn't real enough etc, etc...what this will do is teach you orientation and stick control. Once in the real world, you'll be equipped to deal with wind and real world physics, because now you're a pro at the stick. I would recommend this software to anyone new to the hobby. It will save your plane and the frustration of crashes.

[TJA]

Helicopter are no way near the real thing, you need to do alot of tweaking to get good results and even then the settings are not what you would use in RL.